Bankrupt genetic analysis company 23andMe will hold a second auction for its cache of DNA data with an opening bid of $305 million from a group led by the company’s former chief executive officer, Anne Wojcicki.
The offer is nearly $50 million more than the last bid from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which had been declared the winner of the first auction last month, only to have the outcome challenged in court by Wojcicki. The company’s shares climbed as much as 25% to $4.96 once markets opened on Thursday.
The new auction is a compromise between Wojcicki, Regeneron and 23andMe, all of whom had come to federal court in St. Louis on Wednesday prepared to fight over the best way to set up a new round of bidding.
23andMe had initially proposed limits on the new auction that were questioned b